This week, as strange as it may sound, I am grateful for the hardships in my life. I am grateful for them for so many reasons because, without hardship, there is no sense of reward or accomplishment. How good does it feel to work hard toward a goal you’ve set for yourself? From the word go, you venture out on a path with the end goal being the destination. Along this path you face set-backs, detours, even complete derailments. Through each of these obstacles, although you might not realize it at the time, you are growing in mind, body, and spirit and the version of you that reaches that destination is a much different version, a better version, of the person that set out on the path in the first place. At the time, as you faced these obstacles, you most likely experienced feelings of discouragement, self-doubt or questioning yourself, possibly even anger and frustration as it sometimes seemed like you may never reach your goal. As long as you constantly re-center, and come back to a positive mental attitude and a determination to reach your goals no matter what, those hardships, those emotions hold insight and an education that no amount of money can buy and no institution can offer within its curriculum. When you reach that goal, you look back on the struggles along the way, you reflect on how far you’ve come, and you are rewarded with such a feeling of accomplishment that you set your sights forward, stronger, and ready to take on the next one.
You see, our hardships define us. Over the course of our lives, the hardships help forge our appreciation and understanding of the beauty and the balance of life. We might say we want an easy life, but I assure you, we don’t. Without pain, there is no reward. If you had a life where everything was handed to you at every step, how would you feel accomplished? How would you, better how could you deal with tragedy or an unforeseen obstacle in your path? We need these hardships for they are what give us the strength to conquer the hardships themselves.
Some of us may be experiencing hardship right now. Just remember, as hard as it may seem, that hardship is there for a reason. Instead of fighting it, embrace it and let it offer insight into how best to conquer it. The answers lie within, I assure you.